Kansas board to study regulations for special ed

The Kansas State Board of Education will consider new emergency intervention regulations on how special education students are restrained in the classroom.

Associated Press

The Kansas State Board of Education will consider new emergency intervention regulations on how special education students are restrained in the classroom.

The board will meet Tuesday in Topeka for a public hearing on the standards, which would protect the students from physical restraint and seclusion. The board could vote on them Wednesday.

Currently, the state encourages schools to follow standards but does not require it. The Lawrence Journal-World reports (http://bit.ly/UY32FQ ) the new regulations would require all school districts to adopt formal policies, provide training in using the interventions and document every time they are used.

Last year, parents testified that teachers sometimes used unnecessarily dangerous restraints or isolation rooms. Advocates for teachers warned that banning seclusion and restraint could force schools to call police when students have uncontrollable outbursts.